Notions of Modernism from 1818 to 2018

2017 has been an exciting year for us over here at Oh-So-Arty! It marked our first year as an international platform with local guides in over 20 international cities. Because of this we’re oh-so-looking forward to 2018 and all that the new year has in store for us. That is why we were so excited to hear about Maya Attoun’s new art book which celebrates 2018 through the form of a weekly planner.

As the planner organizes 2018 it also looks back 200 years to 1818 and the publication of Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. “Frankenstein was published on the first day of 1818 and I wanted to address this date by creating a book which starts exactly 200 years later,” Attoun explained when asked why she chose the medium of a weekly planner for her work. Shelley’s ominous and at times eerie novel has been interpreted into 160 pages of beautiful graphite illustrations. While the correlation between 2018 and 1818 may seem indistinct, Attoun beautifully describes the innate relationship between these years two centuries apart:

“I think there is an interesting correlation between the neo-gothic times which were the beginning of modernism and our times which are the disintegration of modernism.” She continued, “I feel that the monsters we confront today are the blasting of digital and visual information; the condition of post-truth where true or false, important and marginal lose their hierarchy.”

Attoun in her studio in Tel Aviv

As we enter a new year we grapple with our own fears or monsters and it is exactly these mundane models of modernity that are dissected in Attoun’s intricate illustrations.

While the overarching theme of the planner is Frankenstein, a major motif of Attoun’s oeuvre, not all of the illustrations are direct references to Shelley’s text. For example some images are taken from everyday photos that Attoun posted on her social media or her “instagram diary” as she refers to it. There are also depictions of plants, climate models, anatomical illustrations, graphs and other technical devices.

The power of Attoun’s project resides in its interactive component. Each illustration is given a new purpose when acted on by whomever the planner belongs to. None of the 160 pages bound in this book are static works of art and each piece takes on a new meaning every time it is written on. Attoun described her choice of a planner, saying, “I go back to using a planner because I wanted to do something which is interactive in the sense that is really involving the viewer or user.”

Simultaneously an object, an illustration, an artist book and a piece of performance art, Attoun’s weekly planner has elevated keeping track of time to an art form for the modern age.

To learn more about the Tel Aviv art scene join a private art tour with us, here.

Textual Inspirations of Art World Professionals [PART 1]

Inspiration - noun  in·spi·ra·tion  \ ˌin(t)-spə-ˈrā-shən , -(ˌ)spi- \

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines inspiration as 'the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions'. It can strike at any time and its myriad sources differ amongst individuals. As we are constantly seeking out new creative outlets to inspire us, we decided to ask our local arty guides what texts have had a profound influence on them. Their answers ranged from ancient poetry to contemporary tomes. As professional art guides it is our passion to awaken the creative sides of others through the astounding power of art. 

Follow along with this ongoing series of posts to learn more about our guides and gain some inspiration for yourself along the way.

Local guide in London, Marine Tanguy, explaining her inspirations on an art tour

Part one of our series features the textual inspirations of local guide in London, Marine Tanguy.

The Poetry of John Keats

I love the Poetry of John Keats and specifically the poem Ode on a Grecian Urn. John Keats made me appreciate how much art and well being were tied together, as art could enhance life and make it more bearable. He also reinforces the value of powerful visuals when it comes to our routine.

Hellenistic Terracotta Hadra hydria. Image: The Met

Architecture & Society by Walter Gropius

While this book focuses on architecture a lot more strongly than art, it discusses the power of the arts for everyone within the Bauhaus philosophy. This is something that I believe in very strongly.

The Bauhaus School circa 1940s. Image: Bauhaus Dessau

The Bauhaus School today. Image: Bauhaus Dessau

Take a tour with Marine in London to discover more! 
 

Insider Tips for Collecting Contemporary Art

Our local guide in Brussels, Jacinthe Gigou, does not consider herself a collector and yet she has many insights about finding and purchasing art that uplifts and inspires. Explore the pieces she has personally selected to surround herself with and learn why they are significant to her. 

Image: © Morgane Delfosse

What is your personal philosophy when it comes to collecting art for yourself?

I am not a collector, I just like to have some pieces around me in my daily life. I have always been fascinated by art, even more so by artists. Owning one of their pieces also evokes for me their personality or a memory shared with them. Art uplifts and inspires me.

Can you tell us about one of your favorite pieces you have collected?

There are several I like a lot. They often touch on themes of time and disappearance. 

1. I like vanities and their representations, making permanent something ephemeral. The graffiti artist Steve Locatelli, from Antwerp, paints skulls and crossbones more than anything else. This one almost taunts us with its smile, but it is brightened up by the vivid colours and the roses that surround it and comprise it. I think it is beautiful, it calms my fears, haha!

Work by Steve Locatelli. Image © Morgane Delfosse

2. Here is a piece by Léopoldine Roux, from Brussels, who often bases her work on old documents, in this case a postcard of a forest in Beirut onto which she has painted a host of coloured dots. It has a strange beauty; the perspective makes it almost architectural. 

Work by Léopoldine Roux. Image: © Morgane Delfosse

3. Piotr has a way of depicting skies and nature which evokes the great Classical painters for me. The materials he paints on can be very unusual everyday things, in this case a vinyl record painted on one side.

Work by Piotr. Image: © Morgane Delfosse

4. This ceramic piece by Evor, from Nantes, is a sort of neo-rock, somewhere between a meteorite and an organic shape. I love ceramics because it reveals the void.

Work by Evor. Image: © Morgane Delfosse

5. This photo by Michel François, from Brussels, shows a detail of a book being passed from one hand to another. It was taken in Cuba in the aftermath of a hurricane. The hurricane’s victims are hurriedly recovering some of their belongings amid the wreckage of their homes. Saving a book is a very powerful symbol.

Work by Michel François. Image: © Morgane Delfosse

What is your advice for other contemporary art collectors today?

Follow young artists and creators.

Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this series with our other local guides.

Take a tour with Jacinthe to learn more about her taste and contemporary art in Brussels!

Je t'aime, Ronit Elkabetz

““I truly believe clothes have spirit and a soul, so it’s important to me to care for them and then let them go when the time comes. After they have travelled a long way with me, I allow them to continue on, like a story or a film that needs to go on with its own life” ”

— Ronit Elkabetz

Actress, director, social activist, muse. All of these titles are applicable to the international icon, Ronit Elkabetz. Each role is thoroughly dissected in Je t’aime, Ronit Elkabetz, a new exhibition at the Design Museum in Holon, Israel, which opens November 27th on what would have been Elkabetz’s 53rd birthday.

Ronit Elkabetz in a gown by Alber Elbaz at Gindi TLV Fashion week, 2015. 

Photographer: Amit Berlowitz ©

This exhibition, which contains 528 items from Elkabetz’s personal wardrobe, was a collaboration between film director Shlomi Elkabetz (Ronit’s brother and collaborator) and fashion curator and historian Ya’ara Keydar.

While the general Israeli public may not have identified Elkabetz primarily as a fashion icon, this exhibition proves her sartorial choices were always pertinent in the actress’s various cinematic projects and an important part of her daily life. In many ways, this exhibition provides another dimension to Elkabetz’s garments, which she saw as living souls.

Ronit Elkabetz. Photographer: Gabriel Baharlia, 2011 ©

Ronit was born in Be’er Sheva and when she was young, her family moved to the town of Kiryat Yam in northern Israel. It was here that she had her first official introduction to fashion as she studied it in high school. At at the age of 17, she began modeling and after designing, sewing, and working as a runway and photo model, she quickly became steeped in the world of glossy covers and haute couture.

Elkabetz would come to have a symbiotic relationship with the fashion world and specifically Moroccan-born Israeli designer, Alber Elbaz, with whom she would often collaborate. Through Elkabetz’s clothing, the act of getting dressed sheds its mundane connotations and becomes something inherently transgressive, cathartic, and creative. Elkabetz’s wardrobe and fashion choices demonstrated her political, feminist, and minority identity agendas and were in many ways an extension of her art as an actress and director.

Ronit Elkabetz in SION, a film by Joseph Dadoune , 2006

Artist credit: Joseph Dadoune, 2006 ©

The theatrical design of Je t’aime, Ronit Elkabetz, expertly curated by Keydar, transports visitors into a theater of sorts as they explore the 31 ‘scenes’ illustrating Elkabetz’s attitude towards fashion. The crowning moment of the exhibition is undoubtedly the three-meter-long vivid yellow Lanvin gown designed by Alber Elbaz. Suspended in the center of the lower gallery, ‘the Sun Dress,’ floats weightlessly, its canary color cutting through the darkness of the gallery space. As visitors enter the dim room, they maneuver through rosettes of silky red fabric on the floor and hear Elkabetz’s voice speaking and singing as if from another dimension, all without ever taking their eyes off of the enchanting garment, which pulls them closer as if it were really the sun.

On the verso of this display, Photocall Magador (a short film directed by Shlomi Elkzabetz) is projected behind a lace gilded mannequin wearing a gothic tulle gown, also by Elbaz. In this imagined scenario, paparazzi call out to Ronit before silence ensues and only the sounds of waves crashing and cameras clicking are audible. The entire room creates a spiritual environment, where the presence of Elkabetz is palpable as her voice rings through the air and her personal items maintain a vibrant presence.

Ronit Elkabetz on the set of the film Scar, directed by Haim Bouzaglo , 1994

Photographer, Adi Kaplan, 1994 ©

Lustrous jewelry and chic stilettos are displayed in light boxes dotting the walls of a corridor that transitions visitors from the lower gallery. Softly illuminated and presented on an intimate scale, the accessories shown in this passage evoke feelings of awe as if discovering precious treasures or peaking into a cabinet of curiosities. Presented alongside sensual flowers, their femininity is heightened and they seem like organic extensions of womanhood.  

The theatrics continue in the upper gallery where mannequins wearing corsets, couture, and costumes tell the story of Elkabetz through style.

The upper gallery is divided by a 16 meter bridge that ascends and abruptly stops in front of the ‘Finale dress’ (designed in tribute to Elkabetz by Victor Bellaish), suspended over a floor projection of the the seashore. Neon text on the adjacent wall ominously reads ‘this is not cinema.’ This climactic display acts as the finale to the exhibition, allowing visitors a somber yet spiritual moment of reflection as they digest the performance they’ve just witnessed.

Ronit Elkabetzon the set of “Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem,” directed by Ronit and ShlomiElkabetz. Image courtesy of ShlomiElkabetz ©
Photographer: Amit Berlowitz

The triumph of the human spirit is a major theme both in Elkabetz’s oeuvre and the curatorial narrative of the exhibition. Elkabetz imbued every element of her life with passion, and that energy continues to radiate in new ways from the precious objects she left behind from her inspiring yet tragically short life.

Je t'aime, Ronit Elkabetz is showing at the Design Museum Holon from November 27th, 2017 until April 30th, 2018.

To learn more about this exhibition or the Israeli art scene, take an art tour with one our local guides in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.

The 'Perpetual Becoming' of Yaacov Agam

“My aim is to show the visible as possibility in a state of perpetual becoming”

— Yaacov Agam

This month marks the official opening of the much anticipated Agam Museum in Rishon LeZion, Israel. David Nofar's 3200 square meter spacious building dedicated to the work of Yaacov Agam is well worth the wait.

The Pillars of Clilla

From the moment visitors step onto the grounds of the museum they are engulfed into the rainbow world of Agam. 'The Pillars of Clilla,' named for his late wife, includes 29 monumental columns (20 at the entrance and 9 inside the building) which make the distinction between indoors and outdoors inconspicuous. Meeting visitors in the courtyard, these columns transport them into the mind of Agam and lead them into the museum’s central space, which boasts his ‘panorAgam’ work, originally displayed on the bow at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City in 1981.

Agam is widely considered the father of kinetic art because of his early preoccupation with time and movement. Kinetic art is defined as art that relies on motion to create its desired effects. Agam’s work is concerned with the what he refers to as ‘the fourth dimension,’ which is the idea that time is visible within the artwork and the piece is not static. This element is broadly explored and thoroughly explained through the myriad of works in various mediums in the museum. 

In fact, without the active role of visitors the kinetic elements of Agam’s works would not be possible. Viewers cannot remain passive if they are to truly experience Agam’s art as he intended. His work requires you to be active physically, cognitively, and emotionally. This concept is better experienced than explained as the ‘perpetual becoming’ of Agam’s oeuvre reveals itself to viewers within the museum.

Agam’s signature style is well known to the Israeli public who would recognize his major works in Tel Aviv: the ‘Water and Fire’ fountain at Tzina Dizengoff Square and the facade of the Dan Hotel on the Tel Aviv Promenade. Yet, his work resonates on an international scale with non-Jewish communities. However, it would be negligent to discuss Agam without acknowledging his connections to Judaism. Born in Rishon LeZion in 1928, in what was then mandate Palestine, to a Kabbalist Rabbi father, spirituality and Torah teachings permeated his youth and stay with him to this day. Judaism forbids figurative artworks and since Agam is restricted in this way he uses abstract figures in his work to express the feelings of life. 

At 89 years old, Agam is embracing technology and is increasingly interested in applying his artistic principles to new medias. Through computers and applications he has created interactive works that activate the participants senses of touch, sight, and sound. This convergence of the senses breaths a new life into Agam’s work and keeps it relevant in the 21st century.

Abundant with Agam classics such as his signature ‘Agamographs,’ the museum provides a comprehensive look at his oeuvre that both longtime followers of his career and novice art fans will appreciate. As the director of the Agam Museum, Gilad Meltzer, explained, “In the spirit of the artist, a visit to the museum will encourage a multiplicity of views and points of view, emphasizing the universal language of art and the unique and groundbreaking qualities of his work.”

Agam Art Museum
1, Meishar St, Rishon LeTsiyon, Israel